THE BELIEVER’S EXPERIENCE OF THE TRIUNE GOD

Matthew 28:19 is another verse on the believer’s experience of the Triune God. It says, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This is the commandment that the Lord Jesus gave to His disciples, telling them to go and preach the gospel for the discipling of all the nations and to baptize the believing ones into the name of the Triune God. In Greek, the word name is singular. Apparently, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as three persons should have three names. However, in reality the three have only one name, which is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In other words, the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit denotes the Triune God.

Among both the Chinese and Americans, most names are composed of three words. God’s name also has three parts. The name of the Triune God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is not a light matter. Anyone among all the nations who believes in the Lord must be baptized into one name—the name “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Perhaps many of us have never considered that our Triune God has such a special name. We believers worship God, but have we ever wondered what the name of the God whom we worship is? Jehovah is God’s name in the Old Testament, but today we are no longer in the Old Testament but in the New Testament. What is God’s name in the New Testament? “Man” is not man’s name but denotes man himself. In the same way, “God” is not God’s name but denotes God Himself. As man has a name, so God has a name. In the New Testament God’s name is not only Jesus. Jesus is the name of God as our Savior but not the New Testament name of the Triune God. The name of our Savior is Jesus Christ, but the name of our God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Hallelujah, what a revelation this is! The name of the God whom we worship, serve, love, and experience is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord told His disciples to baptize the believing ones into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. However, in Acts and the Epistles the apostles told the people that they needed to “be baptized upon the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38), that is, to be “baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 8:16; 19:5), “into Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:3), and “into Christ” (Gal. 3:27). As Christians, we all know that we are baptized into the Lord’s name. At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, we are told to baptize the believers into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, which is the name of God. However, in Acts and the Epistles we are told to baptize people into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, with respect to the truth, to baptize people is to immerse them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, but with respect to practice, to baptize people is to immerse them into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are God, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior. To baptize a person into God, we must immerse him into Christ. This also indicates that our Savior Jesus Christ is God. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—the Triune God.

Whenever many of us call upon the Lord Jesus, we may have the feeling or understanding that He is only the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and not the Father or the Spirit. Because our natural concept is often governed by tradition, whenever we speak of the Lord Jesus, we exclude the Father and the Spirit. Christianity has been on the earth for nearly two thousand years. From the time that the Nicene Creed was established by the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 until the present day, Christians have inherited the concept that the Father is the Father, the Son is the Son, and the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit; the Father is God, the Son is the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. Hence, Christianity teaches us that when we pray, we should pray to the heavenly Father and not to the Lord Jesus and that we should conclude our prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus. In addition, since we do not have sufficient power when we pray, we need to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when we pray, we should pray to the heavenly Father, in the name of the Son, and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Today this traditional concept has continued to affect people subconsciously. Consequently, all who believe in the Lord spontaneously have this understanding without being taught.

Apparently, the Bible seems to teach this way. However, John 16:15 says, “All that the Father has is Mine [the Son’s]; for this reason I have said that He [the Holy Spirit] receives of Mine and will declare it to you.” Since all that the Father has, has become the Son’s, does this mean that the Father no longer possesses it? Moreover, since all that the Son has, has been received by the Spirit, does this mean that the Holy Spirit has everything and the Father and the Son have nothing? We have seen clearly from the revelation in John 14 and 15 that the Father is in the Son and that the Son comes in the Father with the Spirit. Since the Father is in the Son, all that the Father has spontaneously becomes the Son’s. Since the Son comes in the Father with the Spirit, all that the Son has, has been received by the Spirit. Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit,” and 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “And the Lord is the Spirit.” This means that the Son has become the Spirit and, therefore, all that the Son has, has been inherited by the Spirit. However, when the Son became the Spirit, He did not leave the Father in the heavens because the Father is in Him. The result is that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit become God’s name. For this reason, whenever we call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, the One we experience is the Triune God, because the Father is in the Son and the Son has become the Spirit.

In summary, John 14:10 shows us that the Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son. Hence, all that the Father has belongs to the Son. First Corinthians 15:45b and 2 Corinthians 3:17 reveal that the Son has become the Spirit. Hence, all that the Son has, has been inherited by the Spirit. Once we have the Spirit, we have the Son and the Father because the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one. Therefore, Matthew 28:19 says that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have only one name. This name has three parts; the first part is Father, the second part is Son, and the third part is Holy Spirit. In principle, this is like Chinese names, which have three parts.

What we have stressed again and again is not the doctrine but the rich experience of the Triune God. We cannot possibly experience Christ without experiencing the Father God and the Holy Spirit. We must realize that to experience Christ is to experience the Triune God. Colossians 2:9 says that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily. Therefore, in Acts and the Epistles, the apostles taught the believers to baptize people into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ because this is equal to baptizing people into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

(Four Crucial Elements of the Bible, The—Christ, the Spirit, Life, and the Church, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee)

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Living Stream Ministry publishes the works of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, providing the authoritative and definitive collections of treasures from these two servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. The writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee focus on the enjoyment of the divine life, which all the believers possess, and on the building up of the church, the goal of God's work with man in this age.